And the World was Full of Stars
by Sunhawk1
Summary: Ranma falls through a Rift... and ends up on Phase World! Odd little idea... might continue it if people like. Chapter one complete.
1. Prologue (revised)

And the World was Full of Stars  
(Ranma 1/2 and RIFTS (Phase world, specifically))  
by Shea McIntee  
  
Disclaimer: Neither series belongs to me... I'm just a mere otaku...  
  
Note: There aren't very many Ranma/RIFTS fics out there... so here's one!  
  
Prologue  
  
Ranma spun and kicked in a completely improvised form, each move flowing smoothly into the next. A punch turned into a spinning back hand, and the recoil of the reflexive withdraw turned into a spinning horizontal elbow strike. A roundhouse kick was followed flawlessly by a spinnig reverse hook kick, which in turn gave way to a axe kick that flowed upwards above his head, and flashed downwards in an almost artistic display of lethality.  
  
He stood on a small rectangular natural chimney as the sun rose in the east, continuing his display, while he waited for his father to get up. They had been traveling over the mountainous terrain of a small island north of Japan, searching for some legendary temple or 'holy place' or something. Pop was vague on that part. Ranma privately suspected that the old man didn't know himself.  
  
He didn't mind his father most of the time, but sometimes he'd go off on some asinine little scheme, usually for food or the promise of 'secret martial arts techniques,' most of which were utterly ridiculous at the least, and dangerously painful or lethal at the worst. The idea of sparring with an oppnent with mock-knives was smart. Ranma could see the point of that. Even having your opponent using real knives made sense. But... CHAINSAWS??  
  
That was pushing it. And that was only one time. Tying him to a large boulder and tossing him off a cliff into the sea to teach him some crazy ocean-something technique. The (shudder) neko-ken. Later, he even thought of the bright idea of trying something similar with large hungry rats. Luckily, Ranma had come across the worn and stained booklet while the idiot was taking a nap and had tossed it in the fire, or else he'd be scared of rats, too.  
  
"Boy, where are you!" came his father's voice from the campsite. "We've got to get going!"  
  
Ranma sighed as he trudged back. He didn't suppose his father would help carry anything today, either.  
  
****  
  
Ranma looked at the large cave entrance in front of him skeptically.  
  
"You've got to be kidding! This is what we've been hiking for the past three days for? It's just a cave!"  
  
Genma swelled up in indignation.  
  
"Listen, boy; this isn't just any old cave! It's the location of a famous training ground!"  
  
"Riiight. What's so special about a cave?"  
  
"I'll show you!" With that, Genma grabbed Ranma by the back of his uniform and tossed him inside. The brochure said that the way to train the student was to throw them inside far enough so they fell down the hole. The process of surviving and coming back to the entrance, in spite of lack of food or water (there was none inside, and the journey took two and a half days at best), was supposed to toughen the body and the spirit.  
  
He sat down and opened the pack to find something to eat. No sense in letting the food go to waste, was there?  
  
****  
  
Meanwhile, Ranma fell down a long steep passage, flailing his arms and trying to grab something to stop himself.  
  
"Daaaaammmnn yoooouuu, Oooyyyaaajjjiii!!" he screamed as he fell through a hole in the passage and dropped into a endless darkness that seemed to almost suck the light inside it. There was a sudden actinic flash of light, and suddnely the space was completely empty.  
  
**** years later ****  
  
A figure stood upon a tall metal pole, limbs and body moving in a smooth dance. Much as he did five years before, Ranma welcomed the sun with a kata completely improvised. An arm shot out and gripped an imaginary oppnent, only to spin and turn the grab into a backfist. A leg flashed out in a lightning-fast kick, and he spun around to use the same leg in a flickering reverse kick. However similar to his performance before the temple this was, there were notable differences.  
  
He was noticably more mature and more confident. Rather than the overconfident and naive fourteen-year-old he'd once been, he was taller, more worldly (in some ways, at least), and, although he still held that aura of confidence, it was tempered by the realization that there were indeed things far more powerful than him.  
  
He flipped completely over, balancing on the pole with his hands as he performed an acrobatic split-kick, and then flexed his arms, tossing himself several feet in the air and off the pole, as he plummented down towards the ground.  
  
Less than a body-length above the hard dirt, he spun himself back upright and took the impact with his legs, flexing and then rebounding, only to land again on the twenty-foot pole, already returning to the blurring routine from earlier.  
  
Another difference this time was that, although the rising of the sun signaled the end of the dance, it's setting last night had heralded it's beginning. Yet over eight hours of highly intensive exercise had left him no more exausted than the one-hour workout of that long-ago day; another sign of his growth in those years.  
  
The place was different. Instead of standing on a spire of rock in the mountains of Japan, he was perched on a much thinner metal pole in a barren and alien landscape. The sun he watched as it rose was larger and older than the star that greeted him that day half a decade ago.  
  
So many things, experiences, people, and places separated him from that brash boy from long ago. He wasn't yet out of childhood by the mores of the culture of his birth, yet he had seen so much and done so much more than anyone who still lived in that culture.  
  
He had arrived alone and completely unprepared in a strange city. For months, maybe a year, he had scrounged a living in a place where he recognized nothing and understood none of the languages spoken around him. He stole food when he could, or found it abandoned. He fought with many who were in similar straits over moldy crusts (or whatever was available-he learned early never to try to figure out what exactly he was eating), and learned to avoid the predators who roamed the shadows. His martial abilities gave him an edge, but in a world where magic and technology mixed and merged, his advantage was precarious at best. His day-to-day existance depended upon his using his wits, his skills, anything that he could muster to survive. He had seen many others in similar conditions, human or not, succumb to hunger, sickness, or violence. Some disappeared, victims of the deadly intelligent predators who cruised the alleys and shadows for prey. A rare few found a way out, using a combination of ruthless determination and sheer luck to excape, but he quickly learned to stifle any such dreams. Those who dream constantly become victims and corpses, unless they were careful about when and where they dreamt.  
  
And then he had had a dream... one that was somehow different, and it led him out of the shadows. He had fallen asleep in his small 'home', which was merely a tiny storage space in a ruined building. To get in, one must be small enough to crawl through one of several small tunnels and know the exact way. That was another lesson he learned: like a fox, one must always have more than one exit. He had swiped a pack of field rations from a corpse that had been left to cool in an alley, and he quickly retreated to safety before any of the others could find it. Luckily, the rations were edible, and he had had a full meal for the first time in a long time.  
  
But when he had gone to sleep, he had dreamed... he had seen a figure dressed as both he and he father had, in a white dogi tied with a simple belt. The figure seemed to shine, and he squinted, unable to see anything more than a vague outline. The figure had asked him what he wanted from life, and offered him a way out: become it's champion, it said, and he would be able to make what he could of his life, to make a difference defending those who couldn't defend themselves.  
  
He had accepted, and then had drifted off in a deep slumber. He had woken up with the dream vivid in his mind, and somehow felt compelled to travel to a specific section of the city, and to find a person named Caryn at a particular hotel. Caryn had turned out to be an odd-looking lizard-like man, of a race known as the Seljuk, who soon became his teacher.  
  
He had been chosen as a champion, a 'teyr veryn k'irrit' in his teacher's language, meaning, roughly, 'star's fury'. There were many names for those like him in many languages, but all of them meant the same thing.  
  
A Cosmoknight. A chosen champion of an entity known merely as 'The Cosmic Forge.' The number of legends and stories concerning the Forge were immense, yet very little was actually known about it. It seemed to randomly interfere with various races and individuals, often in desperate circumstances, and usually for their survival. His mentor's race, the Seljuk, themselves had been saved by the Forge when it lended it's aid to their wizards and mages, who calmed the dangerously out-of-control energies of their planet and allowed them to thrive and grow into a large civilization. Perhaps the greatest impact it had on the Three Galaxies (and perhaps elsewhere) was in it's champions, beings of many races and altered and changed by the vast energies it wielded, who fought to protect the innocent and to preserve life.  
  
Many of them died within a few years, perhaps a decade of their choosing. Many fell, corrupted, in one way or another, by the vast power that each could wield. Some eventually retired, tired and exausted by their service. A few continued, walking the balance between inaction and corruption. Many were suspicious of them; after all, anyone with that much power was dangerous, no matter how careful and circumspect they were in using it. Some had mentors, like he did, and some learned to harness their powers on their own. All of them followed the same code and worked towards the same ends, no matter what their race or culture once was.  
  
He had eventually parted ways with Caryn after perhaps eight months, and had wandered this part of the galaxy in exploration. He kept his nature as private as he could, relying instead on skills and abilities learned from others, instead of the cosmic energy that was his new nature. Many chose to live only a life as a knight, living (literally) in their armor, needing neither to eat nor sleep. However, many of those became easy targets for the many enemies a cosmoknight 'inherited', and others grew apart from other s, eventually succumbing to the dangerous practice of wielding their power without humanity.  
  
A few more months after he had left his teacher, he had signed on and served as a grunt, and then an officer, on a corvette for the CAF. Three months ago, he had petitioned for a long leave, almost a semi-retirement, in order to find his home-dimension and to wrap up his affairs, say goodbye to his family, and such, before coming back. A week ago, the approval had come back down, and thus here he was on a world governed by the Promethians, giant humanoids who controlled formidable powers at least equal to his own. He had said goodbye to his friends on board, and had promised to return soon. This afternoon, he would be visiting someone who could find 'his' dimension and open a gate to it for him. He would take a month there, and then come back in time to rendezvous with the 'Brigand' when it stopped by in it's patrol in three months.  
  
He halted his movement as the sun finished cresting the horizon, and jumped off the pole and walked towards the city that he had once been so eager to leave four years ago.  
  
****  
  
Author's Note: Okay, this is another odd idea I had after reading the Phase World sourcebook for RIFTS. I know I was vague about whatever adventures and companions he had on the 'Brigand'... but don't worry, they'll be involved. In addition, it's possible that I'll be writing sidestories that go more in-depth. The basic idea is that of Ranma as a Cosmoknight, coming back home for a final visit. Little does he know what his father has in store for him.... comments, criticisms, and flames welcomed at deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com  
  
PS: As in many of my fics, there will be a romantic involvement for Ranma. However, it ain't anyone from his home dimension... it'll probably be one of the other crew members of the 'Brigand', who'll probably take exception to all those engagements and such. 


	2. Chapter One (Complete)

And the World was Full of Stars  
(Ranma 1/2 and RIFTS (Phase world, specifically))  
by Shea McIntee  
  
Disclaimer: Neither series belongs to me... I'm just a mere otaku...  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Ranma stepped through the portal, and onto...  
  
Nothing?  
  
"Wahhh!" he exclaimed as he realized the exit wasn't at ground level. In fact, it was   
almost a hundred feet above it! He caught a brief glimpse of the terrain below him: looked   
like a small valley with a bunch of pools with some sticks or poles sticking out of them.   
And then it got a lot closer.  
  
He stopped abruptly right above one of the pools and hovered for a moment before landing   
on dry ground off to one side. That landing wouldn't have felt very good, in spite of his   
superhuman endurance.  
  
A few minutes later, as he inspected the area around him, a rather portly man dressed in   
green rushed up to him. "Oh, sir! Be careful! This ancient cursed training ground of   
Jusenkyo! Very bad you fall in spring!"  
  
Ranma regarded him quizzically. "What happens if you do?"  
  
The Jusenkyo Guide gaped at him for a minute. An honored customer actually listened   
before falling in? That hadn't happened in all the years he'd been a guide, and the guide   
before him, and... well, as far back as the records go. It simply wasn't done!   
Experimentally, he splashed the young customer in front of him with some ordinary cold   
water. He didn't change. He pulled out a small thermos and splashed it on him as well.   
Still nothing  
  
"Hey! What was that for?"  
  
"Sir! You fall in spring, you get tragic curse."  
  
Magic. He didn't do well with most magic. "What kind of curse, exactly?"  
  
"Each spring hold very tragic story of something fall in and drown long ago. If customer   
falls into spring, takes body of whatever drown in tragic legend."  
  
Ranma winced. He could just imagine falling in... He pointed at the spring he almost   
fell into. "What's that one?"  
  
The Guide squinted at it. "Oh, sir, that Nynnichuan, spring-of-drowned-girl. Whoever   
fall in spring, take body of a young girl."  
  
Ranma shuddered. Darine wouldn't like that one bit.  
  
"Thanks for the warning." Ranma turned to leave, and then stopped. "Is there a town or   
village around here somewhere?"  
  
The guide pointed off to the northwest. "Over there is home of Musk warriors, but they no   
like visitors." He turned and indicated a nearby mountain. "That home of phoenix tribe,   
but they very clannish, and no like visitors either." He pointed off towards the east.   
"That direction amazon villagers. They fierce warriors. No others near here."  
  
Ranma inclined his head briefly. "Thanks."  
  
Maybe he could get directions at one of those amazon villages. He walked east, where the   
guide had indicated. He didn't bother flying; he didn't want to attract notice, and he   
wasn't in a great hurry... he had plenty of time.  
  
As he moved out of sight, the guide walked slowly back towards the hut. This would need to   
be recorded; a customer not receiving a curse!  
  
He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice at first the two figures, one a fat middle-aged   
man with glasses and a white bandanna, and the other young with black hair walk into the   
valley. Both wore dogis, and the young one carried a huge pack. By the time he had seen   
them, it was, inevitably, too late for them to pay attention.  
  
"Sirs! What you doing? It very bad you fall in springs!"  
  
'Splash!'  
  
"Huh?... Wha?!?"  
  
"Growlrr!"  
  
"Wah!"  
  
'Splash!'  
  
****  
  
Ranma walked into a small village that was bustling in activity. There was cheering and other   
sounds of crowd activity off to the right, where the appeared to be some sort of contest or   
something going on; Ranma couldn't get a glimpse. He contented himself to look the part of a   
visitor, and wandered over there to look at the activity. A few minutes to satisfy his   
curiosity before he went looking for someone to give him directions wouldn't hurt. Besides,   
nobody noticed him, or, if they did, were too busy watching themselves to notice that this   
particular visitor was stranger than most.  
  
One, however did. A wrinkled short old lady watched him from her vantage point in a nearby   
tree, distracted from the on-going tournament by a new face.  
  
'Hmmm...' She looked him over, scanning automatically for a possible threat or benefit.   
'Looks slightly japanese... at least a decent fighter judging by his muscle tone and gait...   
rather young... probably an outsider adopted into one of the other villages...' She shrugged   
and turned back to the spectacle in the central clearing. He wasn't a threat, and there didn't   
seem to be anything alarming about him. There was something about him that attracted her   
attention, but she put him out of her mind for now. Perhaps later she'd examine him, during the   
feast or something... after all, traditionally, everyone was invited by the winner to partake of   
the meal, including visitors... after all, many had walked from far away villages to watch or   
cheer on their younger relatives, and had to walk an equally far distance tomorrow or late   
today.  
  
Meanwhile, Ranma had found a spot to watch the action below. It appeared to be some sort of   
martial contest. There was a large group of women, ranging in age from perhaps sixteen to   
twenty, off to one side watching, and two of their number fighting on a large log strapped   
between two trees to form a challenge space.  
  
'Interesting... the log make balance a very important part of the challenge, and lessens the   
chance of a fatality from continuous damage by ensuring that a fight progresses swiftly.'  
  
The two combatants were very different sizes, but seemed to be evenly matched. On his left, a   
tall woman, perhaps twenty or so, stood with a tall cudgel, with both ends of the staff shaped   
into a large bulb, which she spun like a double-mace or similar weapon. On the right, a younger   
girl perhaps half her opponent's height and bright blue hair faced the audience and bowed before   
turning again to the center of the log. She held a wooden shield that curved slightly outwards,   
with semi-serrations along the edge that were designed to catch an enemy's blade and hold it fast   
and a sword with a projection from the hilt that curved inwards towards the base of the blade,   
which served a similar purpose, to either catch or break a blade. Against this opponent's weapon   
they would be useless at best, but against a sword or thinner staff they would be deadly.  
  
Both weapons were dulled; the sword was covered with a leather sheath that kept the blade   
securely hidden, and the giantess' staffheads were covered in padded cloth, which most likely were   
covered in metal bands underneath. This was clearly in good sport, for the two grinned in an   
almost friendly fashion before advancing towards each other.  
  
The two stood staring at each other's faces for a long moment, and then, on some unspoken signal,   
struck. The taller girl's weapon whistled down, only to be expertly parried by a shield held at   
the right angle to shed the impact off to the side. Her opponent's sword was likewise blocked by   
the other end of the staff in a quick reversed strike that used the recoil from the failed impact   
to increase it's speed, and then they sprang back a couple feet. As they continued to hammer at   
each other, they appeared, to Ranma's eyes, evenly matched. Although the taller one had the height   
advantage, the shorter one was faster, and often struck at her opponents legs, attempted to force a   
stumble off the log. However, in the end, it was simple bad luck that defeated her. A large leaf   
blew in her face as she blocked another blow with her shield, and her opponent took advantage of it,   
quickly striking low while her vision was blurred. She fell off the log, but recovered and landed   
on the ground feet-first, to be joined shortly by the winner of the bout. They bowed slightly to   
each other before retiring together back to the group of women to one side. At some unseen signal,   
two others left that group to jump up to opposite ends of the log, facing each other.  
  
Ranma shrugged and wandered around. There was a large table off to one side with a equally large   
variety of dishes on it. In chinese, it said in large letters:  
  
--------------  
| First Prize! |  
--------------  
  
Underneath it, it said . Ranma raised an   
eyebrow at that, and shrugged. When on Phase World... [AN: Equivalent to "When in Rome..."]  
  
He glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, and rummaged around in one of his pockets. He   
had them enchanted to hold a large amount of material in stasis, and he thought that...  
  
He pulled out a large container, and opened it to place a good 10-lb medium-rare steak (still   
steaming hot), and placed it at the end. Might as well contribute.  
  
****  
  
Cologne blinked as she watched the newcomer that had attracted her attention earlier. While it   
showed rather uncommon courtesy for him, as an outsider, to add to the feast, she was rather puzzled   
as to where he got the large hunk of meat from. She shrugged. She must be getting old if she hadn't   
noticed the pack that was now obviously on his back. She still didn't know why he attracted her   
attention... maybe he was related to someone she once knew when she traveled outside the village.   
She should arrange to talk with him at the victory celebration.  
  
Cologne shook herself and turned back to the contest. Shampoo was coming up soon. The way the   
bouts worked is that the pairs were chosen at random. The winner of each match stayed, and so on,   
until there was a single champion remaining. The champion was given certain duties and   
responsibilities among the warriors of the village, and received great esteem and respect in return.   
It was a great honor to win the yearly tournament, and Shampoo had so far done excellently, defeating   
most of her opponents with ease.  
  
****  
  
Ranma watched as the matches progressed. There were two competitors that seemed to be favored. The   
first was an almost androgynous woman, perhaps twenty or twenty one, who wielded a tall thin staff -   
made of solid iron, but she moved it like it was made of balsa wood. The other was somewhat shorter,   
and more... well, curvy. She used a pair of colorful mace-like weapons, which appeared to be made of   
a hard wood shell surrounding iron or lead, judging by the impacts it made.  
  
It was perhaps inevitable that the final match would be between the two. The fight was quite long,   
taking perhaps an hour or more in all. Ranma had to admit he was quite impressed. He had seen (and   
done) more impressive things, perhaps, but, then again, he did have certain... advantages.  
  
He frowned in puzzlement as he saw two figures enter the village. One wasn't all that unusual: a   
young girl with brilliant red hair [AN: sorry, I'm going by the anime for hair color]. The other   
was... he hadn't seen all that many pandas, especially ones with glasses.  
  
Then he snapped his fingers. Of course... Jusenkyo. The panda was probably some guy that fell   
into a spring. Seeing the Jusenkyo guide behind them only confirmed it. He wondered if the young   
girl was also a victim; he did almost fall into the 'Spring-of-Drowned-Girl,' so it wasn't beyond   
possibility.  
  
His attention was drawn back to the tounament log, where the shorter girl (with the purple hair   
arranged in an interesting style) was beating the other back. Eventually, her opponent reached the   
end of the challenge log, and then slipped on the end and fell. There was a roar of applause, and   
everyone clustered around the young winner.  
  
Suddenly, silence fell as the young girl, evidently named "Shan Pu" or something like that, according   
to the various yells earlier, stalked towards... the tables with food?  
  
"*You!*" she confronted the young girl. "*Why are you letting your panda eat my feast?*"  
  
The girl looked back, a blank and confused look on her face. The Jusenkyo Guide leaned towards her   
and translated into Japanese. "Honored Sir, She ask why you let your panda eat her feast?"  
  
Ranma noted the address, and assumed that this indeed was someone who had fallen into the spring he   
missed.  
  
'Poor guy... Wait a moment... panda eating... uh, oh...'  
  
He turned around just to see the panda with glasses reaching for the large sirloin he had put there   
earlier. Moving quickly, he grabbed it's paw and twisted it hard, flipping the human-turned-animal   
onto the ground.  
  
In the audience, Cologne raised her eyebrow as she noted this. Yes... definitely a fighter of some   
kind. Rather nice of him to keep the animal away from the food.  
  
'Wait...' she spotted the glasses on the panda and narrowed her eyes. 'That's no animal...'  
  
Meanwhile, Shan Pu and the red-haired girl were facing each other on the log. Ranma guessed it was   
an attempt to make up for the panda, but doubted the girl had much of a chance; Shan Pu, although still   
a little winded, was more skilled than most on this planet, from what he could see.  
  
To his surprise, it was much more even then he had thought, perhaps even a little unbalanced in the   
other way. If both had been fresh, perhaps the outcome would have been different, but with Shan Pu   
already tired from a full day of fighting, her opponent handily won.  
  
The Jusenkyo guide reacted with horror as Shan Pu walked up to the othet girl and muttered something   
in chinese under her breath and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"Oh, sir, that very bad! She give you kiss of death; promise to hunt you to ends of earth!"  
  
Immediately the panda was right behind the red-head and dragging her off in a great hurry. Ranma   
sweatdropped and watched them go. Tentatively he approached the nearest amazon, who was a rather   
shriveled up old woman balanced on a staff, who had come up behind him.  
  
"*Errr... excuse me? What was that all about?*"  
  
The old woman sighed and pointed at the young champion, currently running out of the village with a   
bag of supplies, hot on the trail. "*My great-granddaughter, Shan Pu, was defeated by that outsider   
girl and gave her the kiss of death.*"  
  
Ranma frowned for a moment. "*kiss of death? What's that?*"  
  
"*The kiss of death is a promise by an amazon warrior to hunt the one who defeated her to the ends of   
the earth, in order to alleviate the shame and dishonor of being defeated by a non-amazon woman.*"  
  
He paused for a moment, and then remembered something he had noticed earlier. "*I could be mistaken,   
but I believe that wasn't really a girl...*" Cologne gave him a puzzled look, and he elaborated. "*I   
think that that was a boy or man. The guide from Jusenkyo did call him 'honored sir.' You could ask   
him to make certain, though. Does that kiss of death thing apply only to women?*"  
  
Cologne gave him a sudden shocked glance. "*That would make... a great deal of difference. Wait   
here, child.*"  
  
Ranma frowned a bit at the 'child,' comment, but kept his mouth shut as he watched her pogo over to   
the middle-aged man who served as the Jusenkyo guide. After talking with him for a moment in a low   
tone, she pogoed back over to Ranma.  
  
"*Boy, I need you to run a quick errand for me.*" She scribbled something on a piece of paper and   
handed it to him. "*Don't bother reading it... it's in a local dialect. Just catch up to my great-  
granddaughter, the girl who ran out of here, and give this to here.*"  
  
He scratched his head. "*What's so urgent?*"  
  
The old woman thought for a moment, obviously considering whether he needed to know or not, and then   
relented. "*She... did something... without... knowing a critical piece of information.*"  
  
Ranma took a wild stab at it. "*Does this have anything to do with this 'kiss of death' and the red-  
haired girl really being a boy? Perhaps this kiss thing only counting against girls?*"  
  
She gave him a sharp look. "*Ask Shan Pu, when you find her. Tell her to go ahead and follow, but   
to expect me to join her in a couple of weeks if she's not back by then.*"  
  
Ranma, mentally, shrugged his shoulders. What the heck... it wasn't as if he had anything better to   
do. "*Sure, sure.*"  
  
With that, he jogged out the gate at a fast clip. He was going east, anyway.  
  
  
Behind him, Cologne watched him go, and frowned. There was still something about him... She almost   
called out to him to come back so she could ask him some question, but then shrugged. She had a feeling   
she'd be seeing him again, anyway.  
  
****  
  
A Panda ran at a clip that would have impressed anyone watching. Unfortunately, nobody was watching, or   
even present, except for the still-disoriented bundle on his back.  
  
Genma didn't need this. He really didn't. He worked hard to train his son to become the greatest   
martial artist in the world and support him in his retirement, and what happens? The boy runs away or   
something. Ungrateful child. He was lucky he had come across his 'new' son soon after. He had found him   
with almost complete amnesia near a wrecked dojo. The only things the boy remembered was martial arts and   
his name, "Ryu". Genma had quickly made up a story on the spot, and had succeeding in convincing him that   
he was his father, and that they had been separated in the woods nearby.  
  
Later he had used his formidable talents at Anything-Goes Story Fabrication to recreate "what happened."   
Best of all, it explained everything to Nodoka, if she noticed anything wrong. He let the boy keep the   
name, and merely pretended that he had changed it before losing his memory, in honor of a great   
accomplishment in martial arts. To cover that, he had brought out the scrolls for the Yama Sen Ken and the   
Umi Sen Ken that he had hidden away and had proclaimed that "Ranma" had changed his name after mastering   
the basics of the two schools. He also spent a few weeks 'reminescing' over important events in   
"Ranma"/Ryu's early life, before the amnesia, making sure that the details were well-planted in his mind,   
in case they came across anyone he used to know. The story was, in Genma's mind, perfect. And soon he   
would be able to marry the boy to one of Tendo's daughters, and the boy would support him and carry on the   
Anything Goes school. Nothing could go wrong now.  
  
  
****  
  
Ranma sneezed as he jogged away from the small village. There were still some possible watchers, so he'd   
better stay on the ground for now. Still, he'd probably find the girl within a couple hours, deliver the   
message, and then go on to Japan to find his family.  
  
Unfortunately, he had never encountered the Amazons' 'Chestnut Fist Revised: Hot Pursuit' technique, and   
thus was farther behind than he thought.  
  
****  
  
Days later, he was starting to worry. He could tell he was almost to the coast, and still hadn't caught   
up with the girl. He couldn't understand it; she was traveling on foot, and still managed to go faster   
than he did, even though he traveled the entire day (he didn't need to sleep).  
  
He slowed down as he approached the ocean and saw a small silhouette with a distinctive hairstyle   
standing on the beach. Finally! Later, he'd need to remember how she managed to move so quickly.  
  
"*Shan Pu?*"  
  
She whirled around in surprise, and then gave him a suspicious glare. "*Who are you?*"  
  
"*Your great-grandmother send me to give you a message.*" He walked up to her and gave her the piece of   
paper. She looked it over with a puzzled frown, which only deepened as she read. Then she gave him a   
glare.  
  
"*Is this true? The Ranma girl isn't a girl, but a BOY?*"  
  
He nodded. "*Yep. Why does that make such a difference?*"  
  
In answer, she handed him a book entitled "Book of Amazon Law." Her flipped through it and then found   
the entry. He goggled. He'd been a lot of places, and seen a lot of strange things, but this was rather   
unexpected. It made a kind of wierd sense though. Anyone who was strong enough to defeat an amazon needed   
to be eliminated, either by killing or by getting them into the tribe.  
  
"*Your great-grandmother told me to tell you to continue to follow, but that if you weren't back in a   
couple of weeks, she'd be joining you, or something like that.*"  
  
Shampoo gestured to the large body of water beside them. "*Ranma swam over to Japan.*"  
  
He shrugged. "*Convenient... I needed to get there myself. I'll see you there, perhaps?*"  
  
She made a vague gesture. "*Perhaps*"  
  
With that, she started swimming. Ranma waited for her to leave, and then looked around to see if there   
was anyone watching. He didn't see anyone, so he flew up high into the air and traveled at a modest speed   
towards Japan. Why swim when you could fly?  
  
****  
  
Author's Note: Okay, I'm breaking here for now, I suppose. I also changed the prologue a bit.   
Ranma was away for five years now, instead of the two or three I originally thought. And yes, the   
amazons will be involved... and so will various other parties. And no, it hasn't been five years back   
home. And as for 'who's Darine?'... well, you'll find out. deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com 


End file.
